Fantastic Four #48, March, 1966:First Appearance of the Silver Surfer

The first Silver Surfer comic was Fantastic Four #48 in March of 1966, an invention of the King, Jack Kirby.

While he was working on Fantastic Four #48, Kirby decided that Galactus needed a herald. Thus, the Surfer.

Stan asked Kirby why he'd given the herald a surfboard. Kirby replied that he was tired of drawing spaceships all the time!

The Silver Surfer first appearance proved quite popular with FF readers. He was given an increasingly prominent role, in the storyline as it progressed throughout the three issues of The Galactus Saga.

Fantastic Four #49, April, 1966: Second Appearance of the Silver Surfer

Eventually, Mephisto would be revealed as another of the 'not quite Satan' sort of characters that all comic books excelled at.

Mephisto's attention is drawn when the Surfer, angry at Earthlings for their senseless violence and their treatment of him, uses his Power Cosmic to essentially stop everything on the planet, rendering all electronics neutralized.

Silver Surfer Comic #11, December, 1969

We see another of the many instances in which the Surfer is *almost* reunited with his lost love, Shalla-Bal.

It transpired that Shalla-Bal had been transported to earth by Yarro Gort, Norrin Radd's rival for Shalla-Bal's affections, and the wealthiest man on Zenn-La.

This unlikely Bluto to The Surfer's Popeye brought Shalla-Bal to Earth to prove that the Surfer was not faithful to her, so that he could convince her to stop waiting for Norrin, and marry him instead.

Of course, the ship arrives just as the Surfer receives an innocent kiss from a young South American girl he has rescued.

Meanwhile, conveniently, the dictator of the South American nation where this is all happening shoots Yarro Gort's ship out of the sky. Shalla-Bal is wounded, perhaps fatally.

The Surfer must endure the soap-opera-like heartbreak of sending her back to Zenn-La once more, since only their advanced medicine has any hope of saving her life.

Silver Surfer Comic #18, September, 1970Final issue in solo series

Much has been written about the way that the Silver Surfer series was the "beginning of the end" for Kirby and Stan Lee's relationship, ultimately leading to Kirby's defection to DC at the end of 1970.

Later Key Issues of Silver Surfer Comic Books

History of Silver Surfer Comic Books

The Silver Surfer is, quite simply, the coolest super hero there ever was. Well, I suppose it depends on to whom, exactly, you might pose the question, but to anyone who appreciates the glories of Marvel's late Silver Age, there is no comparison.

The Silver Surfer practically oozes cool, memorably illustrated in the 1983 remake of Truffaut's film Breathless, in which Jesse Lujack (portrayed by Richard Gere with more than a nod to Jack Kerouac) constantly and anachronistically reads Silver Surfer comics aloud, the camera lovingly lingering over John Buscema's pencil work as Stan Lee’s cosmic dialogue metaphorically sums up Jesse's experiences.

Make no mistakes: the Surfer doesn't come by his hipster cred simply because he showed up in an "art film", or because he surfs. The Silver Surfer was a fan favorite long before he turned up in the second film of the modern Fantastic Four franchise.

He is more than your average super-hero. He may not even truly fit the definition of "super-hero" in the first place, but there is no doubt about the quality of the work in the first series to bear his name. Nor is there any doubt about the values of those comics.

The Surfer appeared in FF several more times over the next two years, and by 1968, was popular enough to merit his own series. Marvel pulled out all the stops, making it a bimonthly 72 pages long, costing $0.25 instead of the then-standard $0.12, with a 40-page original Silver Surfer story each month.

In the context of this larger space, Stan Lee's scripts could really stretch out. By this time, he was quite enamored of the Surfer, and worked what many would call his finest (if also occasionally most purple) scripting over the course of the 18 issues of the comic's run.

Art was handled for the first 17 issues by John Buscema, then just beginning to hit his prime, and coming off of fantastic and definitive work in The Avengers over the previous year. The final issue was penciled by Kirby, in one of his last jobs for Marvel before making the jump to DC.

The axe fell, in 1970, for a number of reasons. Sales were low, partially because of the high price and partially because the series was more introspective than the usual super-hero fare. Either way, Lee and Buscema's work on the original Silver Surfer series stands as some of the most powerful and distinctive in modern comics.

Origin of the Silver Surfer

The Surfer rescues an astronaut (actually John Jameson), and then typically made battle with American military forces who just didn't understand the Surfer's benevolent intentions, he reminisces about his earlier adventures, most significantly, how he became the herald of Galactus.

Back on his home planet of Zenn-La, Norrin Radd was an earnest and humble astronomer who over time had become restless, searching for meaning in the universe. The marvels of technology do little to stop him from feeling jaded. Even the love of his life, Shalla-Bal, rendered with cosmic voluptuousness by John Buscema, is not enough for Norrin Radd.

When Galactus, eater of worlds, threatens the safety of Zenn-La, Norrin suddenly realizes what is at stake. He volunteers to be Galactus' herald and scout, procuring worlds for his master to eat, if only Galactus will spare Zenn-La (and of course, Shalla Bal).

Galactus agrees, and transforms Norrin Radd into a being composed of cosmic energy, silver and nearly featureless. He gives him "the power cosmic" and the surfboard with which he will travel the spaceways, searching out sustenance for Galactus and announcing his master's gustatory intentions to the innocent masses who dwelt on the now-doomed worlds.

Whew. It's hard not to start writing in the sort of purple prose that ol' Stan deploys here. It's great stuff, but as heavy and philosophical as Lee's work ever got. Heavier than the FF at its preachiest. Heavier than Dr. Strange at his most arcane and eldritch. Heavier than Hank Pym and the Vision having a seriousness contest. It's deep stuff, this is, and maybe that was why it wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

After all, Stan basically portrays the Surfer here as a Christ figure, having sacrificed himself not once but twice (once to save Zenn-La, once to save Earth), with diminished powers, constantly misunderstood and harassed by the earthlings he seeks to protect.

Cancellation of the Silver Surfer Comic Series

18 issues seems like a short run for something considered a classic, but we must remember that the earlier issues were double-length, and that The Silver Surfer comic was essentially an 'art' comic.

Sales had started out promisingly, but had never been high. Perhaps, after the real-life events of 1968 and 1969, the hippie idealism of the Surfer's Christ-like initial incarnation was just too goody-goody for the comic readers of the world, who were longing for something grittier.